I grew up in the CRC, and am still here, along with my family. I'm married to Daryl, who has a construction business. I had a CPA license for 10 or so years, then I added EX to the front, and MOM to the back, so now I'm an EX CPA, MOM =). I am MOM to Duncan, Ian and Samantha. Our family also owns a raspberry farm, and in the summers we get to work out there.
Now if we'll just direct that creative energy into worship... God is pouring out the gifts in the creative sphere for His glory, for 24/7 worship... Ex. 31:3,6 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of "crafts" to make artistic works... I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans. So, let's get this God given creativity being used for His Kingdom... I senses that there are many more in the 15-30ish age group that are chomping at the bit to used their gifts in a meaningful Kingdom way. This is a good start...
ps...thanks for the confirmation, through your daughter, of gifted musicians/worshippers in this area...I (and others) are praying into the opportunity to increase their worship participation in different ways so that there will be several locations in the county where worship is going on 24/7... Jesus, may Your Name be lifted up 24/7 in Whatcom County, and the United States and the whole world for that matter...
Let me be more specific then, Jesus exalting, Lifting up His Name type worship... Everything has the potential to be worship...but some directs our focus upward to Jesus more than others.. and of course what's "entertainment" for one is worship for the next...
That is encouraging... so I will encourage (and challenge) you back... I look forward to singing their next song in our church worship service =)!!
I recently suggested to the synod "contest" initiators, that maybe we could challenge our members to compose and write a worship song and the top ones would be published in the next song book, and also maybe be invited (with costs covered) to the next worship symposium to lead "their" song during worship.
I did not mean to sound critical, but only to encourage (and/or challenge) us all to keep moving to higher levels of worship, where Jesus is lifted up continually... "harp and bowl" worship (harp = music and bowl = prayers) based on Rev. 5:8. There are times the Holy Spirt "downloads" new songs as the worship team (not at our church, but at the local prayer center with diverse denominations) is singing... but these are usually in times of continual worship of 2 or more hours... when we have worshipped a straight 24/7 , we have had amazing testimonies of breakthrough...
I know God has a sense of humor and can use any song, Christian or secular to "speak" to someone's heart, so I do not want to limit Him by defining what's worship, because what is worship for one, isn't necessarily the case for the next depending on a multitude of reasons... One funny example of this in my life, was a few months ago, I was at a Hillsong United concert and before the concert they had misc. songs playing, and one was "All you need is love"... this struck me as funny (and the LORD emphasizing love to me), because our pastor had just emphasized the importance of love, with the point of without love, everything is a waste and fruitless...
So I am praying for the release of many new songs from your area, and our denomination... I see it as an untapped oil well, with rich "oil" that will flow forth via the Holy Spirit (I'm sure you know oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit)... You mention harnessing it correctly... with the Holy Spirit as your Guide and counselor, you can't go wrong... so keep listening to Him, and again, excited for what God is doing and going to do with this generation and looking forward to those new songs...
I too get a little skeptical/snarky when people use words like "surely", "clearly", and "thus", like it so obvious to anyone with a brain, and therefore a foregone conclusion, and you would have to be pretty dense to think anything other than what they have so "clearly" presented. +
=)
Aye Aye ban any from of the word "clear" for discussion...hahahaha...
I am so glad that God does not look at outward appearances but at the heart... let's try His way and ask for His eyes to see each other with and not use our human ways of "organizing" and defining each other... Let's ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in who should be selected for leadership positions as is done in Acts 13:1-3, and Acts 14:23... He WILL still do that if we would but pray, fast and listen....then obey...or is that just too mystical for us western trained intellectuals?
yes...I think in all the scriptural references, the leaders did a first round selection of possible "nominees", based on a number of criteria... then asked the Holy Spirit to further select, or in the case of Acts 6:3 by knowing/discerning who was filled with the Holy Spirit... so, now how do we tell who is filled with the Holy Spirit? often it seems it can be a popularity type contest or based on their business "success" or natural giftedness/abilities.... or some other indicator like ethnicity or intellect ("it will require our best minds and some solid study..." June 2011 Banner editorial; p10)... but we don't go into the Spirit filled question, or do we assume every believer is Spirit filled men and women of prayer? or do we specifically ask about their prayer life and their relationship with Jesus? I find many are quite defensive when asked specifically about their prayer life, if it's asked at all.
Our country (the US) has had the best and the brightest and look at the mess we have made... our denomination has had the best and the brightest, and here's another quote from the same editorial, p 10 again.... "The changes made to make our denomination more efficient have caused more problems than they have solved."
that is what happens when we are not Spirit led, and instead use our human understanding ( a business model) to run our denomination... we would have said all our leaders have been Spirit led, full of wisdom in the past, yet something's amiss...
My intent is not to be critical, my heart breaks for our denomination, I've been a part of it all my life...but we have some serious concerns where some things are not as it should be...
the best minds and spirit filled are not always synomynous... they can be, but we need the gift - discerning of the spirits, which is much more than just discernment...
after listening to the intro on Moses Chung, and Moses speech, that is what I'm talking about for selecting leaders....... the search committee said, "God spoke to us and said, this is the person..." after compiling a pool of potentials... then the confirmation of Moses, his mom's dream, his wife' dream (which was in an article I read somewhere), as well as my spirit resonating with his heart for prayer, I know he gets prayer... I have no doubt, God has him exactly where He wants him.
my very specific prayer is that God will raise up Spirit led men and women of prayer for leadership in our denomination.. many will say "of course prayer is important" and "try hard" to pray, but he gets it... so, when we try to orchestrate it through human "goals", we miss God's beautiful orchestration, or doubt it's God, because we might think, well, we're just trying to fulfill the mandate. God, help us all to hear You speak to us...
with all the talk of diversity and unity at Synod, here are two beautiful expressions that I would love to see happen at some level in our denomination... I'm praying into what that will look like, and waiting for God's leading to move forward in our community with this...but in the meantime enjoy, and be inspired!!
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FB1B9CNU this one is by a Baptist group in Houston, so " neighbors" to the Sunrise church... ...beautiful Easter dance with 2000 believers in downtown Houston... I think I cried the first dozen times I watched it..
..Hey BOT... let's throw age in there too! Why not 25% of people are under 25, 25% from 25-50, etc. etc. etc... and then how about income class...25% of people who make under $25k a year, and 25% from those who make $25-75K, etc, etc...Oh and how about our education level...25% HS grads, 25% college grads... wait, wait, wait, I got another one...how about our tithing levels... argh...the idea of any quota is making me cranky and snarky!!!! Quotas are man's understanding...
...why not try prayer AND fasting and listening to the Holy Spirit's direction, guidance, prompting, whatever you want to call it, to select those whom the Holy Spirit calls to that position...as the Bible give us precedent?!?!? Acts. 13:1-3; Acts 14:23 I have experienced incredible, humanly impossible convergences of God's Divine timing when something comes out of prayer and fasting instead of out of our human "ways." When we do it man's way, we only get natural results, and some (maybe most) are pretty messy, and sometimes it makes things worse (just think of some of our gov't programs)... when we do it at God's leading and direction, we get SUPER natural results and you know you are in the right place at the right time...
I'm not satisfied with our natural results anymore...
My verse for this week was...This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in guidance...Is. 28:29 NKJV
and another one on His guidance...Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a Voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it."....Is. 30:21 NIV
LORD, help us to "hear" You...to be aware of Your Spirit's leading...of the many ways You speak to us...now one way, and then another...Open the eyes of our hearts to know You more, through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
but since I'm a woman, if the BOT DID want to suggest one just regarding women, I just might be willing to change my position on quotas....;) ah darn... that was my flesh speaking...:) !
Thanks Ken... from your posts I know you have a heart for pastors, that's why I asked you... don't underestimate the power of your prayers, especially when they are prayed in weakness, they are very powerful. So whatever the Spirit leads you in, giving you the strength and insight to pray on behalf of our leaders... You are so beautiful to Him, and He loves all the time you spend with Him... the funny thing is, sometimes He answers prayers just because we spend time with Him, and aren't even asking specifically for anything... it's like a bonus =)... again, pray however you feel the Spirit asking you to pray... He will help you, that's His promise to us...
Posted in: What's In A Name? [VIDEO]
That is so good!!
Now if we'll just direct that creative energy into worship... God is pouring out the gifts in the creative sphere for His glory, for 24/7 worship... Ex. 31:3,6 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of "crafts" to make artistic works... I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans. So, let's get this God given creativity being used for His Kingdom... I senses that there are many more in the 15-30ish age group that are chomping at the bit to used their gifts in a meaningful Kingdom way. This is a good start...
Posted in: Is it Important for Youth to Attend Church with Their Parents?
ps...thanks for the confirmation, through your daughter, of gifted musicians/worshippers in this area...I (and others) are praying into the opportunity to increase their worship participation in different ways so that there will be several locations in the county where worship is going on 24/7... Jesus, may Your Name be lifted up 24/7 in Whatcom County, and the United States and the whole world for that matter...
Posted in: What's In A Name? [VIDEO]
Let me be more specific then, Jesus exalting, Lifting up His Name type worship... Everything has the potential to be worship...but some directs our focus upward to Jesus more than others.. and of course what's "entertainment" for one is worship for the next...
Posted in: What's In A Name? [VIDEO]
That is encouraging... so I will encourage (and challenge) you back... I look forward to singing their next song in our church worship service =)!!
I recently suggested to the synod "contest" initiators, that maybe we could challenge our members to compose and write a worship song and the top ones would be published in the next song book, and also maybe be invited (with costs covered) to the next worship symposium to lead "their" song during worship.
I did not mean to sound critical, but only to encourage (and/or challenge) us all to keep moving to higher levels of worship, where Jesus is lifted up continually... "harp and bowl" worship (harp = music and bowl = prayers) based on Rev. 5:8. There are times the Holy Spirt "downloads" new songs as the worship team (not at our church, but at the local prayer center with diverse denominations) is singing... but these are usually in times of continual worship of 2 or more hours... when we have worshipped a straight 24/7 , we have had amazing testimonies of breakthrough...
I know God has a sense of humor and can use any song, Christian or secular to "speak" to someone's heart, so I do not want to limit Him by defining what's worship, because what is worship for one, isn't necessarily the case for the next depending on a multitude of reasons... One funny example of this in my life, was a few months ago, I was at a Hillsong United concert and before the concert they had misc. songs playing, and one was "All you need is love"... this struck me as funny (and the LORD emphasizing love to me), because our pastor had just emphasized the importance of love, with the point of without love, everything is a waste and fruitless...
So I am praying for the release of many new songs from your area, and our denomination... I see it as an untapped oil well, with rich "oil" that will flow forth via the Holy Spirit (I'm sure you know oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit)... You mention harnessing it correctly... with the Holy Spirit as your Guide and counselor, you can't go wrong... so keep listening to Him, and again, excited for what God is doing and going to do with this generation and looking forward to those new songs...
Posted in: Clearly Comic Relief - Maybe
I too get a little skeptical/snarky when people use words like "surely", "clearly", and "thus", like it so obvious to anyone with a brain, and therefore a foregone conclusion, and you would have to be pretty dense to think anything other than what they have so "clearly" presented. +
=)
Aye Aye ban any from of the word "clear" for discussion...hahahaha...
Posted in: Intentionally Diverse and Unified
I am so glad that God does not look at outward appearances but at the heart... let's try His way and ask for His eyes to see each other with and not use our human ways of "organizing" and defining each other... Let's ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in who should be selected for leadership positions as is done in Acts 13:1-3, and Acts 14:23... He WILL still do that if we would but pray, fast and listen....then obey...or is that just too mystical for us western trained intellectuals?
Posted in: Intentionally Diverse and Unified
yes...I think in all the scriptural references, the leaders did a first round selection of possible "nominees", based on a number of criteria... then asked the Holy Spirit to further select, or in the case of Acts 6:3 by knowing/discerning who was filled with the Holy Spirit... so, now how do we tell who is filled with the Holy Spirit? often it seems it can be a popularity type contest or based on their business "success" or natural giftedness/abilities.... or some other indicator like ethnicity or intellect ("it will require our best minds and some solid study..." June 2011 Banner editorial; p10)... but we don't go into the Spirit filled question, or do we assume every believer is Spirit filled men and women of prayer? or do we specifically ask about their prayer life and their relationship with Jesus? I find many are quite defensive when asked specifically about their prayer life, if it's asked at all.
Our country (the US) has had the best and the brightest and look at the mess we have made... our denomination has had the best and the brightest, and here's another quote from the same editorial, p 10 again.... "The changes made to make our denomination more efficient have caused more problems than they have solved."
that is what happens when we are not Spirit led, and instead use our human understanding ( a business model) to run our denomination... we would have said all our leaders have been Spirit led, full of wisdom in the past, yet something's amiss...
My intent is not to be critical, my heart breaks for our denomination, I've been a part of it all my life...but we have some serious concerns where some things are not as it should be...
the best minds and spirit filled are not always synomynous... they can be, but we need the gift - discerning of the spirits, which is much more than just discernment...
Posted in: Intentionally Diverse and Unified
after listening to the intro on Moses Chung, and Moses speech, that is what I'm talking about for selecting leaders....... the search committee said, "God spoke to us and said, this is the person..." after compiling a pool of potentials... then the confirmation of Moses, his mom's dream, his wife' dream (which was in an article I read somewhere), as well as my spirit resonating with his heart for prayer, I know he gets prayer... I have no doubt, God has him exactly where He wants him.
my very specific prayer is that God will raise up Spirit led men and women of prayer for leadership in our denomination.. many will say "of course prayer is important" and "try hard" to pray, but he gets it... so, when we try to orchestrate it through human "goals", we miss God's beautiful orchestration, or doubt it's God, because we might think, well, we're just trying to fulfill the mandate. God, help us all to hear You speak to us...
Posted in: What's In A Name? [VIDEO]
with all the talk of diversity and unity at Synod, here are two beautiful expressions that I would love to see happen at some level in our denomination... I'm praying into what that will look like, and waiting for God's leading to move forward in our community with this...but in the meantime enjoy, and be inspired!!
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FB1B9CNU this one is by a Baptist group in Houston, so " neighbors" to the Sunrise church... ...beautiful Easter dance with 2000 believers in downtown Houston... I think I cried the first dozen times I watched it..
http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir
cool virtual choir with 2000 "videos" from around the world
Posted in: People of Color in Leadership Positions
..Hey BOT... let's throw age in there too! Why not 25% of people are under 25, 25% from 25-50, etc. etc. etc... and then how about income class...25% of people who make under $25k a year, and 25% from those who make $25-75K, etc, etc...Oh and how about our education level...25% HS grads, 25% college grads... wait, wait, wait, I got another one...how about our tithing levels... argh...the idea of any quota is making me cranky and snarky!!!! Quotas are man's understanding...
...why not try prayer AND fasting and listening to the Holy Spirit's direction, guidance, prompting, whatever you want to call it, to select those whom the Holy Spirit calls to that position...as the Bible give us precedent?!?!? Acts. 13:1-3; Acts 14:23 I have experienced incredible, humanly impossible convergences of God's Divine timing when something comes out of prayer and fasting instead of out of our human "ways." When we do it man's way, we only get natural results, and some (maybe most) are pretty messy, and sometimes it makes things worse (just think of some of our gov't programs)... when we do it at God's leading and direction, we get SUPER natural results and you know you are in the right place at the right time...
I'm not satisfied with our natural results anymore...
My verse for this week was...This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in guidance...Is. 28:29 NKJV
and another one on His guidance...Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a Voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it."....Is. 30:21 NIV
LORD, help us to "hear" You...to be aware of Your Spirit's leading...of the many ways You speak to us...now one way, and then another...Open the eyes of our hearts to know You more, through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Posted in: People of Color in Leadership Positions
but since I'm a woman, if the BOT DID want to suggest one just regarding women, I just might be willing to change my position on quotas....;) ah darn... that was my flesh speaking...:) !
Posted in: People of Color in Leadership Positions
Thanks Ken... from your posts I know you have a heart for pastors, that's why I asked you... don't underestimate the power of your prayers, especially when they are prayed in weakness, they are very powerful. So whatever the Spirit leads you in, giving you the strength and insight to pray on behalf of our leaders... You are so beautiful to Him, and He loves all the time you spend with Him... the funny thing is, sometimes He answers prayers just because we spend time with Him, and aren't even asking specifically for anything... it's like a bonus =)... again, pray however you feel the Spirit asking you to pray... He will help you, that's His promise to us...